Florida

Josh Willingham finally hit his first home run of the spring in Minnesota’s exhibition finale, and the Twins beat the Boston Red Sox 7-4 on Saturday. The game was called because of rain with two outs in the top of the ninth inning. Mike Napoli went 2 for 2 with a home run and three RBIs for the Red Sox. Jake Peavy, making his third Grapefruit League start, gave up one run and three hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out three.

Mike Napoli hit a solo homer to help the Boston Red Sox defeat the Minnesota Twins 4-0 on Friday. The Red Sox gave Grady Sizemore the day off after telling the oft-injured three-time All-Star that he will be their starting center field on opening day. He has not played in the big leagues since 2011.

We’re being told this is a classic tournament, with juggernauts about to collide like meteors over Texas, and a classic Final Four in store for us. Depends on your view of classic. Does an Arizona – Florida Finals sound unprecedented? Is that must-see TV?

Masahiro Tanaka struggled a bit in one of his final tuneups for the regular season, allowing three runs while pitching into the sixth inning, but the New York Yankees still beat the Minnesota Twins 5-4 victory Saturday.

New York Mets outfielder Chris Young has prided himself on trying to make better contact and not worrying about pulling the ball this spring. He couldn’t help himself Saturday, though. Young went 2 for 3 and hit his first home run of the spring off Scott Diamond in the bottom of the first inning as a Mets’ split squad tied the Minnesota Twins 3-3 in nine innings on Saturday.

The Twins made a small amount of history on Monday when the first use of MLB’s “expanded” replay occurred at Hammond Stadium in Fort Meyers, Fla. It was so nice, they used it twice. Cliches aside, the use of instant replay has been a hot topic amongst baseball pundits and fans.

The Minnesota Twins announced Saturday morning that one of their top minor league prospects will miss the entire 2014 season with an elbow injury. Twins officials said third baseman Miguel Sano will have Tommy John surgery to repair a torn UCL in his right elbow.

While listening to assistant general manager Rob Antony deliver the traditional clubhouse talk on the first day of full-squad workouts, Minnesota Twins reliever Brian Duensing kept thinking of Terry Ryan.

Mike Pelfrey hopes to bounce back from a rough first season with the Minnesota Twins. The right-hander began last season less than a year after having Tommy John elbow-ligament replacement surgery and went 5-13 with a 5.17 ERA.

As the Minnesota Twins annual honors were handed out at Target Field, the club’s most valuable player hardly needed his introduction. He has a new title, though, and that’s going to take some getting used to. First baseman Joe Mauer.

Move over, Florida. New numbers show that Minnesota could finish first when it comes to disaster insurance claims. Last year, Minnesota generated nearly $800 million in claims, and that’s only through the third quarter. If you’re wondering why your premium is going through the roof, you can blame what’s falling on your roof. Hail from storms on Aug. 6 damaged roofs, windows and siding all over the south metro.

The Minnesota Twins will have their three top prospects in camp next month: center fielder Byron Buxton, starting pitcher Alex Meyer and third baseman Miguel Sano. The Twins announced Thursday they invited 23 players not on the 40-man major league roster to spring training this year in Fort Myers, Fla.

Single-game tickets for Minnesota Twins spring training games go on sale Jan. 11. Tickets will be available online, by phone, or at the Hammond Stadium box office in Fort Myers, Fla., or the Target Field box office in Minneapolis starting at 8 a.m. Central time that day.

Few people on earth are capable of completing the Ironman. On Saturday, a young Minnesota man is in Florida to do something nobody like him has ever done before: Complete that infamous race even though he’s paralyzed from the chest down.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) has canceled a missing person alert after two sisters taken from a Florida home by their father were located. On Thursday, officers with Citrus County in Florida reported that the two girls and their father had been located in Montana.

The PGA Tour event in Tampa Bay has new life with a new title sponsor. The tour announced Friday that Valspar, a Minneapolis-based paint company, has signed on as the title sponsor for the next four years.